Dota 2 fans hate the TI9 Battle Pass Wrath of the Mo’rokai event

The long-awaited Wrath of the Mo’rokai event has arrived and it has not been received well by the Dota 2 community.

After two months of waiting, Valve finally released the special TI9 Battle Pass-exclusive game mode. Though Wrath of the Mo’rokai stands as a great opportunity for players to boost their Battle Pass levels without spending additional money, it is functionally identical to a previous Dota 2 event, the Year Beast Brawl.

Wrath of the Mo’rokai is like a regular Dota 2 game, with a few added features. Both teams have a Mo’rokai beast that can be leveled up by collecting essence, which is earned by killing creeps and towers. Chests of essence and battle pass points also periodically appear in random places on the map, forcing the two sides into small skirmishes throughout the game.

If this sounds familiar, it should. Players were quick to notice that it is a revamped version of the Year Beast Brawl, which was released to celebrate the year of Ram during the New Bloom 2015 event.

Though the game mode includes some new wrinkles, there are far more similarities between Wrath of the Mo’rokai and Year Beast Brawl than there are differences. This left Battle Pass owners deeply disappointed with this year’s event.

This was exacerbated further when a game-breaking bug was discovered by players. By playing Lifestealer and using his Infest skill to control the beast, players could sell the beast’s items, which would bestow the player over 100,000 gold.

Valve fixed the bug after a day but players were still not satisfied.

The response to Wrath of the Mo’rokai stands in harsh contrast to the high-quality special events in years past. The International 2017 Battle Pass’ Siltbreaker was well-received, featuring two installments that turned Dota 2 into a game that felt more like Blizzard’s Diablo series than a MOBA. This was followed in 2018 by The Underhollow, a dungeon brawl with eight teams battling each other in search of Roshan’s cheese.

Despite fans stepping up to make this year’s battle pass the biggest ever, Valve apparently hasn’t done the same.